Walk the Line
by melremade
Summary: The line between light and dark has always been thin, and unbeknownst to her, it was always in her blood to walk it. But maybe she won't have to walk that line alone. Stiles/OC
1. Prologue

_**Walk the Line**_** by melremade**

**Summary: With the life her family led, her own life had always felt like one big adventure after another. When her family moved to Beacon Hills, she actually looked forward to experiencing a normal suburban lifestyle before the next adventure could begin, even if the circumstances of the move were less than ideal. But whoever thought that of all the different places she had lived, a small town in California would prove to be the one she should fear the most?**

**Rating: T, may go up later**

**Disclaimer: I don't own **_**Teen Wolf.**_

* * *

**Prologue**

"Stiles, for the last time, if you show up at a crime scene again, there's going to be a 187 at home," Sheriff Stilinski warned his son as he pulled the squad car into the driveway, causing Stiles to groan aloud at the scolding.

"Come on, Dad. It's not like I was going around tampering with evidence. I just wanted to see if the burglars left any visible damage to the house," Stiles whined as his father turned off the car's engine before getting out and Stiles quickly followed suit.

"Well, graduate from high school, get through the police academy, and then you can see all the visible damage you want," his dad advised him dryly over the roof of the car and his son rolled his eyes.

"You know, if I _had_ found any evidence, you would be thanking me, not threatening me with murder," Stiles replied and the sheriff only raised a disbelieving eyebrow in response.

"What crime scene did he stumble upon now?" a third voice interrupted and the pair both turned to the man addressing them.

"Hey, I didn't stumble upon anything," Stiles protested loudly, making the elderly man standing at the end of the neighboring driveway grin in amusement. "I was just observing Beacon Hills' finest at work."

"Wise decision, Stiles. Flattery is always the way out of trouble," the man smiled, glancing at the sheriff's slightly exasperated look directed towards his son's behavior.

"How's it going, Nick?" the sheriff asked, deciding to drop the matter and instead choosing to acknowledge his long-time neighbor as he shut the car door and walked around it stand next to his son.

"Boredom has effectively set in," Nick complained wryly as he moved up the driveway towards the father and son. "I'm not a big fan of this whole 'retirement' thing. Right about now is when I'd usually be coming up with a new syllabus that would have students second-guessing their decision to attend a university. And now, instead of making undergraduates suffer, I'm stuck deciding what soap opera I want to start watching."

"_The Young and the Restless_," Stiles unnecessarily answered, causing the two other men to give him matching surprised looks and he was quick to explain. "I'm just saying. It's summer and my days are rather long and uneventful. I needed a hobby."

"That's my son," the sheriff sighed exaggeratedly, making Nick laugh with a shake of his head.

"Yeah, well, apart from waiting to find out who kidnapped whom and who's sleeping with whom on some soap, I've just been waiting around to see what postcard I'm gonna get next from my granddaughter," Nick continued as he turned his attention to the small stack of mail he had just retrieved from the mailbox. He quickly sorted through it before his face lit up. "And it looks like today we have a winner."

"Where are they again?" the sheriff asked curiously, unable to recall where Nick had told him his daughter and her husband and daughter were currently located.

"Brazil, Ted's been working on a long-running story about the indigenous people," Nick answered as he scanned over the note on the back of the postcard.

"Anything noteworthy?" the sheriff questioned.

"Apparently my granddaughter is over the moon about having a new dog," he replied before his brow furrowed in confusion. "Something about it being as protective as a direwolf? Why the hell is she comparing it to an extinct wolf?"

"_Game of Thrones_," Stiles responded and Nick looked up at him, now looking even more confused. "Um, it's a show based on a fantasy book series. There are direwolves…"

Nick continued to look at him for a long moment with an observing eye before looking back down at the postcard with a chuckle.

"I'll have to get her to visit one day. She's your age, just turned sixteen this month. I think you'd get along well," Nick told Stiles.

"Really?" he asked and Nick nodded absentmindedly.

"Yeah, you're both a little weird," he replied and the sheriff laughed aloud and clapped Stiles on the back, growing even more amused at the slightly offended look on his son's face.

"I'll see you around, Nick," the sheriff waved goodbye before turning around and making his way up the driveway and towards the house.

"I'm not weird and I'm offended that you would dare imply that I was," Stiles huffed as he crossed his arms across his chest and Nick looked back up to the affronted teenager with a grin.

"Don't worry, Stiles. Weird is good. Weird sets you apart from the herd," Nick assured him. However, as he opened his mouth to continue trying to appease Stiles, a blank look fell over his face and his hands dropped to his sides, the stack of letters falling carelessly to the ground.

"Nick?" Stiles asked worriedly, moving closer to the man. Any questions he was about to ask about whether the man was all right were answered the second Nick's eyes rolled into the back of his head and he fell to the ground, losing consciousness.

"Dad!" Stiles shouted as he rushed across the short distance between the two driveways to the fallen man, fear lighting up his features as his neighbor began to experience convulsions. He instinctively rolled the man onto his side, somehow remembering the directions given to him in his seventh grade health class.

"This is unit one to dispatch! I need an ambulance at 223 Fox Mill Drive and I need it now!" the sheriff ordered into the radio hanging over his shoulder as he rushed towards his son who continued to keep a tight hold of Nick.

* * *

The night was calm and quiet. The only sound to be heard was the chirping of crickets and as Nick stood on his back patio looking out into the woods that began on the edge of his property, he attempted to relish the moment for as long as he could. Who knew how many more opportunities he would get to do just this? How many more peaceful nights would he get?

The silence was shattered as the phone in his hand began to ring and Nick looked down at the screen to see that it was his daughter calling. He sat down on a patio chair with a heavy sigh as he answered the phone and brought it up to his ear.

"Hey, Sylvia," he greeted softly, a small smile forming on his lips despite the turn the conversation was soon to take.

"Dad, I got your message. What did the doctor say?" she asked worriedly, her words coming out rushed and he sank down in his seat.

"Um, it's not good, sweetheart," he murmured and he heard her let out a soft gasp on the other end. "They biopsy of the tumor came back and it's malignant."

"Oh my God," she whispered, her voice cracking and his heart broke at the thought of his only daughter crying as she received the news. "So what do they do now? How do we get you better?"

"Sylvia, it's inoperable. They say that because of its location in the brain, it would be impossible to remove it without doing severe and permanent damage. They're going to start me on radiation treatments next week but told me that it will only give me a few more months," he explained as he looked tiredly out at his backyard. He couldn't help noting that the lawn could use a trim, but the thought quickly evaporated as he heard Sylvia start to cry and he found himself at a loss of what to say.

"Dad, we're coming back," she eventually said once her sobs had subsided. "Ted and I have already talked about what we would do if the worst should happen. Penny and I are going to be there as soon as possible. We've already looked at houses just in case. Ted has to be here in Brazil for another month or so but once he's done, he'll be there, too."

Nick found himself in awe of his daughter's levelheaded thinking, even in the face of such tragic news. She and Ted had put together a plan and were ready to follow through with it after only one phone call. This was a family he could be proud of.

"Thank you," he whispered quietly, his eyes stinging from unshed tears. "I love you all so much."

"We love you too, Dad," Sylvia replied without a moment's hesitation. "I'm gonna go now so I can talk to Ted and Penny, but I'll give you a call early tomorrow with what our exact plans are, okay?"

"Alright, sweetheart. And again, thank you. I don't know how I could get through this without you," he confided.

"I love you, Dad. I promise, you won't have to go through this alone," she told him, her voice sounding so much stronger than it had only moments before. "I'll talk to you tomorrow."

"Bye, Sylvia," he said before ending the call and dropping the phone with a loud clatter onto the patio table. With a soft sigh he brought his hands up to his face and rubbed his eyes tiredly before dropping them onto the armrests. It took him a long moment before he was able to gather the energy to stand from his chair and he picked up the phone as he turned around to go back inside. But before he could get too far, he was stopped when someone called his name.

"Nick!" he heard a voice shout, breaking the evening silence that had finally settled back over the night. A soft look fell over his face as he heard whom it was. He knew what she wanted, it was the same she thing she always wanted—help.

"Go home, Laura," he replied with a sigh, his hand still tightly holding onto the phone and his back remaining towards her.

"Nick, I need your help. I'm getting somewhere, but I need help putting it all together," she implored and Nick paused for a long moment before he finally turned to face her.

"Go home," he repeated not unkindly and the young woman only moved closer to him, a desperate look on her face.

"I don't have a home," she countered. "My home was destroyed and I'm doing all I can to bring those responsible to justice, but I don't think I can do it alone. You can help, you know you can."

"You're wrong about two things," he corrected her gently and her brow furrowed in confusion. "First, you do have a home—it's with Derek, your family. And second, you don't want justice, you want revenge."

"Shouldn't you?" she asked, her tone frustrated. "They burned down our house and murdered innocent people! They tipped the balance! If you don't care about the fact that they murdered my family, don't you at least care about that?"

Her eyes were pleading with him to help her and he gave her a long look, debating what he should do. He knew what would happen if she stayed in Beacon Hills, that it would only lead to tragedy.

"I'm going to do something I haven't done in almost a decade," he finally said and he saw the hope that filled her features. "I'll tell you what needs to be done."

"Thank you, Nick," she murmured, a smile breaking out across her face.

"No, Laura," he interrupted her before she could continue, knowing that she had misconstrued his words. "I won't help you find the killer. But I will interfere."

"I don't understand," she told him, her smile now fully gone.

"You need to leave, Laura. Leave Beacon Hills," he instructed her and she took a step back as she shook her head.

"I still don't understand. You said you would tell me what I needed to do," she argued and he sighed heavily. "You said you would help me restore the balance."

"If you keep on this path, trying to find who was responsible for the fire, then yes, the balance will be restored," he conceded with a small nod. "Keep going and you'll get the revenge you want, but at great cost. So I'm telling you to let it go. Leave behind all of this pain. Go back to your brother."

"But the balance?" she asked, unsure of what his advice meant. "You've always lived by the balance and were sworn not to interfere when you knew it would restore itself on its own. If I don't find the person responsible, then will they ever have to pay for what they've done to us?"

"No," he answered after a brief pause, his eyes sorrowful. "If you leave, then the person who set the fire will have gotten away with it and the balance will remain tipped to one side. But you'll be safe, Laura. You and Derek will both be safe."

"What do you mean we'll _both_ be safe?" she questioned, her tone concerned.

"Just go back to your brother, Laura," he urged her yet again, leaving her question unanswered and she warily looked at him with slightly narrowed eyes.

"Why are you doing this?" she asked quietly and he continued to give her the same sorrowful look as she began to work out the clues aloud. "You've never interfered like this and you've never been willing to leave the balance unrepaired. You didn't act before because you knew that I would come back and would fix it. And now you're trying to send me away?"

When he didn't reply, she moved a few steps closer to him and as she did, he could see the realization wash over her face.

"You're dying," she whispered, her eyes widening at the discovery and he slowly nodded.

"Brain cancer," he confirmed softly and he could see the sorrowful look he had just been giving her now mirrored on her face, only it was directed at him. "Please go home, Laura."

She stared at him, taking in everything that had just happened between the two before finally turning around wordlessly and gracefully walking away from him and towards the woods. And in that moment, he knew that she had made up her mind and would stay resolute. Despite his attempt to thwart it, the darkness was coming—he could feel it in his bones.

* * *

**Alright, so this was just the prologue to set up some back story before I actually introduce the main character and I hope you all liked it and that it wasn't anything too predictable! I also hope that I did an alright job writing Stiles because I would hate to make him OOC. Please let me know what you thought? I'll love you forever!**


	2. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

Penny looked through the viewfinder of her camera and carefully adjusted the lens to bring the subject into focus. She had finally gotten him to stop moving and if he just stayed still for the next few moments then the shot would come out perfectly. But wishful thinking seemed to get the best of her when just as she pressed the shutter release to take the picture, her subject shifted, causing the resulting image to come out blurry.

"Damn it, Bruce! Stop moving!" she shouted as she lowered her camera and gave him a frustrated look.

"Stop yelling at the dog," she heard from behind her and she spun around in surprise to see her mother standing in the doorway of her room with her arms crossed in front of her. She gave a loud huff before turning back to her dog who was now lying down with his head resting on his paws and she felt a twinge of guilt for—what she perceived as—the sad look he was now giving her.

"Well, if he would stop moving then maybe I wouldn't have to," she argued weakly as she handed her camera over to Sylvia. She heard her mother let out a soft laugh as she began to scroll through the dozens of blurry pictures Penny had just taken of their dog. Still feeling slightly guilty, she knelt down in front of Bruce and kissed the top of his head as she ran a hand over his soft brown and grey fur apologetically.

"Maybe I'll just never be good at this whole photography thing," she shrugged carelessly and she heard her mother sigh softly behind her.

"No, you just need to learn to adapt your technique based on your subject. Obviously Bruce is never going to sit still long enough for you to take an array of pictures of him," Sylvia pointed out and Bruce let out a loud bark, almost as if he were agreeing with her. She moved to sit down next to her daughter and angled the camera screen so that she could show her what she was doing. "You just need to put it into continuous focus mode."

She then proceeded to move throughout the menus on the screen until she reached the correct one that allowed her to switch the focusing mode of the camera. Once she had finished, she brought the camera to her face to look through the viewfinder and soon snapped a picture of Bruce, despite the fact that his tail was wagging back and forth. She brought the camera down to look at the image on the screen and smiled as she showed it to Penny.

"See? Completely in focus," she pointed out and Penny pouted slightly as she took the camera and examined the photo.

"I still think you and Dad will always be better at it than I can ever be," she confessed as she looked through the viewfinder again and took another picture of Bruce as he rolled over onto his back. When she looked down at the image on her screen, she was pleasantly surprised to find that it wasn't the least bit blurry, unlike her earlier pictures.

"Honey, I've seen your dad's early work and believe me, it _definitely_ took him awhile to learn what he was doing," Sylvia reassured her, making Penny softly laugh as she rubbed Bruce's belly.

"And you?" she asked with a smirk and her mother tilted her chin up proudly, a faux haughty look on her face.

"I've always been as good as I am now," she professed, giving Penny a wink before standing up. She walked over to the large stack of boxes that were sitting off to the side and looked at them with a raised eyebrow. "Are you ever going to unpack?"

"I got all the major stuff unpacked," Penny told her and with her attention still focused on Bruce, she missed the disbelieving look she was given.

"Penny, all you've unpacked is your computer and your bedspread. And you've also opened your suitcase," she gestured, pointing to the open suitcase next to the closet that was still filled to the brim with clothes.

"Yeah, all the major stuff," she argued, giving her a small shrug. Her mother then pulled the packing tape off one of the boxes and opened the lid before peeking inside. She reached in and sorted through the balled up newspapers that had been used as wrapping before gently taking out the handmade snow globe that sat in the box. She looked it over caringly, taking in the intricately crafted African landscape that sat under the glass dome. She knew it was Penny's favorite present her father had ever given her.

"I wish Dad had been able to come back with us," Penny lamented softly, giving her mother a slightly forlorn look as she looked at the snow globe she was holding up.

"I know that he wishes the same thing. But it won't be too long until he's here," she attempted to reassure her daughter as she gently set the snow globe down on top of Penny's dresser before moving back to her and planting a kiss to her hair. "And I really think you need to start unpacking; it'll be good for you to get settled for once."

Penny rolled her eyes as she began to once again take more pictures of Bruce, pleased that each one came out in focus. It had been the same repetitive sentiment her mother had been giving her since it had been announced that they would be moving to Beacon Hills—going to a normal, public high school would do her good, as would settling in and building "long-lasting friendships." But Penny knew that deep down, her mother was really trying to find the silver lining for her own peace of mind. Because although they had moved here to be with her grandfather in his last months, at least Penny would be able to experience a normal American teenager's life.

"Do you want to do me a favor?" Sylvia asked and Penny set her camera down in her lap as she looked up at her.

"Yes, please. Anything to get away from you looming over me for the rest of the day, waiting for me to unpack the rest of this," she answered dryly, gesturing at the aforementioned boxes.

"Can you go over to Grandpa's today and give those pies to his neighbor?" she elaborated, choosing to ignore her daughter's smartass reply. Once Penny heard what the favor entailed, an understanding look fell over her face. "I would do it but there are still a couple of boxes that are supposed to be delivered today and I want to make sure they get here all right—it's got all of mine and your dad's framed articles and whatnot. Plus, you'll be able to spend the afternoon with your grandfather."

"Yeah, of course, Mom," Penny responded without hesitation before a playful grin began to form on her face. "On one condition."

"What?" she asked, a look on her face that almost dared her to be insolent and Penny's grin grew even wider.

"The pies are store bought. I really don't want to be known as the girl whose mother killed the sheriff with a pie before the school year even starts," she said and she quickly dodged the playful smack Sylvia sent her way with a laugh. Sensing the change in mood, Bruce got up and began to bark wildly in excitement, his tail wagging furiously. "Do you think Grandpa will be okay if I bring the direwolf?"

"Yeah go ahead. He needs a you-know-what anyway," she told her and another mischievous grin found its way upon her lips.

"You mean a walk?" she asked knowingly and Bruce's reaction was instantaneous as he heard his favorite word. His barks became louder as he sped out of the room and bounded down the stairs towards the front door and Penny could hear him skidding across the hardwood floors more than once.

"Penny!" Sylvia groaned. "You're not even leaving this second! I've still got to give you the pies and the address so you don't get lost on your own! He's gonna be like this for the next ten minutes!"

"For the last time, you can't train a wolf," Penny argued cheekily as she slipped the strap of her camera across her body so that it was dangling against her waist. Before her mother could reply, Penny had already followed in Bruce's wake.

"He doesn't even look like a wolf!" the older woman shouted down the stairs as she too began to follow the source of the newly present chaos in her home. Penny turned around halfway down the stairs to give her a mock lock of offense.

"How dare you! What he lacks of the wolf in blood, he more than makes up for in spirit. Right, Bruce?" she disagreed eloquently, making her mother laugh and Bruce ran up the stairs to meet her before once again running back to the door, barking impatiently. "I'll prove it to you."

Moving down the stairs, Penny knelt down in front of Bruce so that she was now eye-level with the dog and grabbed a hold of him to keep him from moving so much. Pushing away his face when he tried to lick her cheek, she let out the worst howl Sylvia had ever heard anyone attempt—she sounded much more like a dying animal than a wolf trying to signal its pack. Yet it seemed to provoke the desired reaction from Bruce who quickly howled back, only this time much louder than the teenager and Sylvia's eyes widened in realization.

"Is that what all that noise was this morning?" she asked in surprise and Penny's only response was to let out another howl to match Bruce's. The dual howls continued right up until the moment Sylvia shoved two pies into Penny's hands along with Bruce's leash and a post-it note with her grandfather's address written on it. When Bruce continued to howl once the front door was open, Sylvia brought her hand up to her forehead tiredly. "And please get him to stop doing that. The woods aren't far from here and who knows what kind of signal he's sending out."

"What's he gonna attract? An actual wolf?" Penny laughed as she took hold of the handlebars of her bike, which had been leaned against the porch railing. Her attention was so focused on how she was going to carry both of the pies while holding Bruce's leash and riding her bike at the same time that she missed the serious look on her mother's face. Once she was situated on her bike, she pulled out her phone and looked up where her grandfather's house was located. After looking over the route Google had given her, she slipped her phone back into her pocket before carefully beginning to pedal out of their yard. "I'll see you later, Mom."

"Be safe!" she called after her daughter and once Penny had turned the corner of their street, she sighed heavily. "Please be safe."

* * *

It was a delicate balancing act she was performing and she couldn't help but be impressed by her own skills as she held Bruce's leash in the hand that was keeping the pies sitting steady in her lap, all the while biking through the residential streets on her way to her grandfather's house. One wrong move and not only would she go tumbling off the bike along with the pies, but Bruce would be free to run off in an unknown area and her camera would be smashed to pieces. So, once she had turned onto Fox Mill Drive smoothly, she felt like she could breath a sigh of relief as she checked the house numbers.

"219, 221, 223," she counted aloud and once she reached the house, she carefully dismounted her bike and walked it up the sidewalk leading towards the front porch, where she leaned it against a support beam, an excited smile on her face the entire time. "Ready to meet Grandpa, Bruce? You're gonna love him."

However, the answer she got to her rhetorical question was Bruce barking loudly before bolting across the yard. Not expecting the sudden move, Penny gasped as the leash was torn from her hand.

"Bruce!" she yelled worriedly, afraid that he was going to run off and that she would be unable to find him. But her fear was slightly assuaged when she saw that instead of running down the street, he had run towards a boy who looked to be her age with closely shaved brown hair and was standing in the neighboring driveway. Her relief was short lived when she saw Bruce lean back on his hind legs and then rest his front paws against the boy's chest before licking his face excitedly.

"Bruce! Stop!" she shouted, running towards the dog who was showering the teenage boy with affection. For his part, once the boy had gotten over the shock of having a strange dog practically jump him, he seemed to be taking the whole thing rather well, already having wrapped his arms around the dog instead of shoving him away. As soon as she made it to the pair, she quickly grabbed onto the back of Bruce's collar and tugged him away from her grandfather's neighbor. But unable to be deterred, Bruce chose to lie down at the boy's feet, his belly up and tail wagging back and forth contentedly.

"I am so sorry, I wasn't expecting him to run and wasn't fully paying attention and he pulled the leash from me. He's never done this before and I'm really so sorry," Penny apologized profusely and the boy shook his head as he knelt down before rubbing the dog's belly.

"No, it's fine. A little unexpected, but fine all the same," the boy replied before standing up and Penny sighed heavily in relief. She grew curious when she realized that she had never seen Bruce behave this way with a stranger. He had always been friendly, but never _this_ friendly.

As she observed her dog's strange behavior, she was blind to the boy's eye as he fully looked her over and took in her appearance for the first time, from her chocolate brown hair and friendly green eyes to her outfit, which consisted of a thin three-quarter length grey shirt and skinny jeans along with a simple pair of flats. She finally turned her attention back to him and introduced herself, only to receive no response and she grew nervous when she realized he was just looking at her and doing nothing else. When she repeated her introduction and got the same non-reaction, she snapped her fingers in front of him, causing him to blink rapidly before shaking his head slightly.

"You okay, buddy?" she asked him and with his pale complexion, he was unable to hide the slight flush that spread across his cheeks as he realized he had just been caught awkwardly staring at her.

"Sorry, what were you saying?" he replied, hoping she would just breeze past his bizarre behavior. His prayers were answered when she repeated her introduction for the third time.

"I'm Penny Cole. I'm Nick's granddaughter," she said and Stiles' eyes widened slightly as he looked from her back to his neighbor's house and then back to her once more.

"So this is the direwolf?" he asked, gesturing to where Bruce was still lying at his feet and she tilted her head to the side with a confused expression.

"How did you know that?" she responded, her eyes narrowing slightly in what he could only assume to be suspicion and he was quick to answer her before she thought he was some creep who had obsessively learned every detail of her life before even meeting her.

"No! Sorry!" he hurriedly replied, gesturing slightly wildly, making her raise her eyebrows in surprise at his sudden protestation. "Nick told me and my dad he got a postcard from you and that you got a dog. He asked what a direwolf was."

She continued to stare at him for a long moment before shaking her head and shrugging off his slightly bizarre behavior as him just being a tad eccentric. And if he was eccentric, then who was she to judge? After all, she had been called more than a tad eccentric in her life.

"You still haven't told me your name…" she trailed off hesitantly, unsure of what to make of her encounter with the mystery boy who lived next door to her grandfather.

"Sorry!" he exclaimed with eyes that widened once again as he realized she was right. God, what an impression he was sure to leave on her. "I'm—"

"Stiles!" an irritated voice cut him off while at the same time finishing his sentence. The two teenagers turned to the source of the shout and Penny took in the older blonde man in a sheriff's uniform—someone who could only be Stiles' father. He was storming out of the neighboring house, letting the front door slam close behind him as he made his way towards his son who was clearly growing slightly nervous with the way he ran his hand over his short hair before letting it drop to his side.

"Hey, Dad!" Stiles replied back, his voice filled with fake cheer, already knowing what his father was upset about.

"I've told you a thousand times to stop taking my radio!" he admonished and before he could continue with his scolding, Stiles quickly turned towards Penny.

"Dad, have you met Nick's granddaughter Penny yet?" he asked, gesturing to the slightly uncomfortable looking girl standing before the pair. The sheriff's eyebrows raised in surprise for a moment before he held out his hand to the teenager.

"Pleased to meet you. Nick's told us so much about you," he said, offering a friendly smile, but not before sending a glare at his son for using the poor girl as a shield from the trouble that still awaited him once they were alone.

"Oh no," she grinned sheepishly, shaking the man's hand. "I can't believe he would bore you by telling you anything about me."

"The last thing I would call Nick is boring," the sheriff replied with a small chuckle, making Penny laugh along with him. "He's just doing the part of a dutiful grandfather and bragging about his grandchild."

"Oh, well that's good to hear," she smiled before holding out the two pies in her hands towards him. "These are for both of you."

The sheriff took them with a slightly surprised look and Stiles leaned over to see that an apple pie in a store container sat on top of another clear, plastic container. He eagerly reached over and took the top pie, his mouth salivating when he saw that the bottom one was a cherry pie—his favorite.

"When your mother stopped by yesterday and said she would be sending her daughter over with a pie, I didn't think she was serious," the sheriff told her with a friendly smile and Penny nodded.

"Yeah, you know, a thank you for all you've done for my grandpa. He's told us all about how you two have been there for him until we could get here and he's so grateful to have you two," she explained warmly and a grateful look of her own found its way onto her features. "Sorry they're store bought and not homemade, but you've never had my mom's cooking and I'd really like to keep it that way."

"Pie is pie and it's always appreciated," Stiles quickly answered as he took the other pie out of his father's hands and placed it on top of the apple pie, trying to subtly claim them both for his own without anyone taking notice.

"What my son means to say in a not so brisk manner is that we really appreciate the gesture and we're always more than willing to help Nick out," the sheriff said as he wrapped an arm around Stiles' shoulder, squeezing tightly and making Stiles let out a sharp gasp. "And your mother said you're going to be starting at Beacon Hills High as a sophomore?"

"Yeah, my first time at an American high school," she responded, a look of excitement forming on her face at the prospect.

"Well, my son will be as well and as the gentleman I know he is, if you need anything, you just be sure to ask. He'd be more than willing to help out a fellow classmate," the sheriff announced, effectively signing his son up to be her guide on what Beacon Hills High would be like.

"Uh, yeah. Anything to help out a new student," Stiles stuttered out, nervously glancing at his dad before nodding emphatically at Penny who gave them both a large smile and Stiles noticed that it made her green eyes sparkle in the sunlight.

"I'm sure I'll be taking you up on that offer," she said before looking down at Bruce and tugging on his leash that was now securely back in her hands. "It was great to meet both of you and again, thank you so much for all you've done. I've just gotta be going now."

"Yeah, of course. I'm sure we'll be seeing you around," the sheriff replied, giving her an understanding nod and she gave them both one last goodbye before pulling Bruce after her as she walked across her grandfather's lawn, ignoring the dog's whimper at having to leave Stiles.

"Oh and Stiles?" she called before the two could get too far and he turned around to face her.

"Yeah?" he asked and she smiled at him sheepishly.

"Sorry again about Bruce. He might have been overly excited but he's always been a good judge of character. It's his way of saying to trust you," she told him, giving him no chance to respond as she made her way up the stairs of her grandfather's porch and rang the doorbell. He could only stare after her with wide eyes and a small smile on his face.

"Get that dumb look on your face and get back in the house. You've still got a lot of explaining to do," his father's voice sternly ordered him, breaking him from his reverie. With a resigned sigh, Stiles followed him into the house. But while his father lectured him for the umpteenth time about getting involved in police business, there was a small corner in the back of his mind that was still trying to figure out what to make of this new girl and her affectionate dog.

* * *

"Milk and one sugar," Nick announced as he handed a cup of tea to his granddaughter before sitting down in the armchair next to hers. She smiled down into her tea with a fond look before taking a sip and her smile seemed to grow.

"I can't believe you still remember how I like it," she told him incredulously and he only gave her a wry smile in response. He took a small sip of his own tea before setting it down on the side table next to him and focusing his attention on the dog at his feet.

"This is a good dog," he stated matter-of-factly as he scratched Bruce between the ears and if his tail could have wagged any faster, it did in that moment.

"You know, he found us. Not the other way around," she said and Nick raised an eyebrow for her to continue. "He just showed up at our front door one day, curled up on the front steps. Dad wasn't too sure about keeping him with all the moving around we do and Mom of all people convinced him that it would be a good idea."

As Nick listened to his granddaughter's story about the dog who had moved to rest his head in Nick's lap, he took the opportunity to look over the dog. There was nothing overtly special about him. Clearly a mixed breed, Bruce had shaggy brown and grey fur and an even furrier tail. One of his ears seemed to be lazy as the tip was always bent forward, giving him a perpetually friendly look. When he looked at Bruce's big brown eyes, Nick knew instantly that this was a dog that would protect Penny.

"He's looked out for you, hasn't he?" Nick asked, his gaze still on the dog and Penny nodded.

"Yeah, he has. He's got rather good judgment," Penny answered and he nodded knowingly. "He actually seemed quite fond of the boy who lives next door. He practically tackled him to the ground before licking the poor kid's face with as much fervor as I've ever seen him."

"Stiles is a good kid—kind and warmhearted. It seems Bruce's judgment has proved correct once again," Nick smiled at her. "Do you what a psychopomp is?"

"Is it from mythology?" Penny asked, her face contorted in concentration as she tried to remember whether or not she had ever come across reading about a psychopomp.

"A psychopomp was a creature believed to escort recently deceased souls to the afterlife and to give them safe passage," Nick answered and Penny sat back in her chair as she brought her feet under her with a smile. She had always loved nothing more than when her grandfather would teach her about one myth or another. "They appear throughout mythology as spirits, deities, even animals depending on the culture."

"Animals, huh?" Penny grinned, looking down at her dog whose eyes had now closed in contentment.

"In some religions, they even appear as dogs," he answered and Penny let out a soft laugh at his implication. It was the same thing he had done since she was a child—he would put on a convincing show about whatever myth he was teaching his classes about and once she was finally on the verge of believing him, he would wink and press a kiss to her forehead before walking off.

"Last time I checked, I wasn't a recently deceased soul," Penny pointed out and Nick shook his head with a chuckle.

"They've also been said to show up to act as guides during big life transitions," he argued and Penny raised an eyebrow at his counterpoint. "Who knows, Penny? Maybe you're about to have a big life transition."

"You could say that about anyone," Penny argued, waving a dismissive hand at him before taking another sip of her tea.

"He found you, right? That's what you said?" Nick asked and Penny gave him a long look before slowly nodding, knowing exactly where he was about to go with this line of thought. "And how often have stray dogs been known to just wander the streets before settling down in front of a random house? Not very, I'd wager. Maybe he didn't find you. Maybe he was sent to you."

She tried to find a hint of deception in his face and grew frustrated when she couldn't. This whole tale of psychopomps was just another one of her grandfather's areas of expertise and he knew exactly what parts of the myth to include and what parts to leave out in order to make her believe. And she found herself growing even more frustrated when she found that he was making sense. But she knew that the second she was willing to admit it aloud, she would end up like Charlie Brown whenever he tried to kick that damn football and her grandfather would be looking at her with an amused expression once he moved the football from her grasp. After all, much like the two _Peanuts_ characters, her grandfather loved to tease, although never in the mean-spirited way as his cartoon counterpart.

"Haven't you ever wondered why your mother was able to convince your dad to let you keep Bruce? Maybe she could sense it, too," Nick told her and a thoughtful look fell over her features as she took in his newest point. After all, her mother had been adamant about them keeping the dog and Penny had thought nothing of it due to her own excitement of getting a new pet. Glancing down at Bruce, who was still resting his head in her grandfather's lap, she then looked back at her grandfather and when she opened her mouth to ask a question, her eyes grew wide when he winked at her.

"You promised you would stop doing that!" she shouted and he could only laugh at her reaction. He then stood up, making Bruce whine slightly at the loss of contact, before leaning over and pressing a caring kiss to her forehead.

"I remember no such promise," he replied and she let out an exaggerated huff as he began to leave the room. "Come on, there's some cheesecake in the freezer and I know how much you love cheesecake."

Penny pouted down at her stomach when it growled loudly, effectively betraying her show of dissatisfaction at her grandfather's trick. Once her grandfather had left the room, she called Bruce over quietly and leaned forward so her eyes were level with his. She stared in them for a long moment before slightly nodding.

"You're not a psychopomp, right?" she whispered to him and when he licked her face in response, she took it as a yes. "I knew it."

* * *

**So, this is the first chapter and I really, really hope you guys liked it. I hoped that you liked my own characters and didn't find any of them cliché or tired or boring and I hoped you also liked my characterization of Stiles and his dad. And I'm really anxious to know what you think so please let me know! Thanks so much to BananasGoneCrazy42, amillionmelodies, and QueenOfTheHobbits for their wonderful reviews! They left the biggest smile on my face. Thanks also to everyone who followed and favorited! It's so great to know you guys are interested.**


	3. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

A dissatisfied frown found its way upon Penny's features as she scrolled through the photos that were saved on her camera. There was nothing inherently bad about them—they were all in focus, there wasn't anything obstructing the lens, and they all looked to be thoughtfully composed. They were just missing that spark, the one that made them more than just a regular photo and turned it into something special. When it came down to it, she knew that it was the subject matter. She wanted nothing more than to take pictures like her parents. Her mother's always looked like works of art and once they were taken, it was impossible to see all the work that had gone into them to make them just perfect. But it was her father whom she truly wanted to emulate. She wanted to take pictures of things that mattered—things that would make you stop and think about the subject matter the moment you laid eyes on the photo. Instead, her photos consisted of things from her own life: Bruce, her new home, and her family.

She could hear her father's voice in the back of her head telling her that when the time was right, she would find her inspiration and not a moment sooner. For him it hadn't happened until he was in his late twenties, which gave her a decently sized amount of hope when she realized that gave her ten years to find her inspiration. But she couldn't help but want it _now_. She wanted to take pictures that would catch your breath in your throat because they were so moving. She was given a reprieve from her moping when Bruce came up, holding a large stick in his mouth.

"Coming to me in my time of need?" she asked with a smile as she set her camera down on the patio table she was seated at and made to grab the stick from Bruce, only for him to playfully move out of the way before she could do so. When she slouched back in her chair, Bruce came towards her again. She gave him a long look before reaching out once more to take the stick and Bruce let her have it, looking up at the stick expectantly as he panted excitedly. With all the strength she could muster, which admittedly was not that much, she threw the stick into her grandfather's backyard and Bruce shot after it. They continued this for another ten minutes before Bruce lay down at her feet, chewing on the stick contentedly.

"Penny, I need you to go down to the store for me. Your grandpa's run out of milk and won't take his coffee without it," her mother told her, opening the sliding glass door that led to the backyard and Penny threw her head back against the chair with a groan.

"Why do I have to go?" she whined childishly and she knew that her mother was unamused with her complaining.

"Because this is the one comfort your sick grandfather is asking for," she answered, her tone sharp and Penny glanced around the back of the chair guiltily at her mother.

"But you drove us here so I don't have my bike," Penny pointed out.

"Then w-a-l-k," Sylvia responded in a no-nonsense tone, yet still trying to avoid riling Bruce up and Penny didn't even have it in her to use the dog's favorite word.

"Can't you just leave me alone to wallow in my despair? It's the only way I'll be able to tap into my artistic side," she requested, gesturing to her camera and she heard her mother sigh as she walked out onto the patio, sliding the door shut behind her. She walked over to her daughter and sat down on the arm of Penny's chair before wrapping an arm around her shoulder.

"Stop wallowing. You'll get there; it's just going to take some time. And while you're killing that time, you can go to the store and pick up some milk," her mother comforted and Penny smiled as she looked up at her before sighing loudly.

"I don't want to have to w-a-l-k. Can't you just drive me?" she asked and her mother shook her head, much to her dismay.

"Stop being so lazy. If you want to avoid physical exercise that badly, ask Stiles for a ride. I saw his jeep in his driveway," Sylvia suggested and Penny looked up at her like she was crazy.

"I can't ask him for a ride," she replied and the tone of finality in her voice went completely unnoticed.

"Why? I thought you two were friends?" her mother asked and Penny sighed with a roll of her eyes.

"We've just met a couple of times in passing and Bruce has tried to kill him with affection every time by the way," she countered, waving a hand towards the dog who still continued to chew on the stick like it was the only thing in the world that mattered. "We've talked but I can't just go over there and ask him for a ride randomly. That would be weird."

Sylvia stared amusedly at her daughter who rattled off her explanation as if it were fact. She knew that Penny liked the teenage boy, but was nervous about how to go about crafting a friendship—with all the moving they did she had never had much experience with creating friendships that would last. She placed a kiss on the top of her daughter's head with a soft laugh.

"Well, ask him or you're going to be w-a-l-k-ing. I expect that milk one way or another," she told Penny before leaving her alone with Bruce on the back patio.

"What do you think, Bruce? Should we try and cement the bonds of friendship with Stiles by asking for a favor?" she asked the dog with a resigned look and hearing his name, Bruce looked up at her and tilted his head to the side. "I guess that's as good of an answer as I'm likely to get."

She grabbed his leash off of the table and hooked it to Bruce's collar before standing up and pulling on the black lightweight jacket that had been hanging off the back of the chair. She then slipped her camera strap across her body before taking a deep breath for courage. From the few interactions she had had with Stiles, she could honestly say that she liked him. He was both funny and friendly and had the perfect touch of weirdness about him that Penny found intriguing. She was just nervous about how to go about changing their conversations in passing to an actual friendship. As she walked with Bruce around the side of the house and into Stiles' front yard, she found herself growing slightly anxious.

"You're an amazing girl. Anyone would be lucky to be your friend," she muttered to herself in an attempt to give her that extra boost of confidence she needed as she stood in front of their front door. Before she could lose her nerve, she pressed the doorbell and waited for someone to answer it. It wasn't long before the sheriff appeared in the doorway with a friendly smile.

"Hey, Penny. How's it going?" he asked and Penny gave him a smile that she hoped didn't betray her nervousness.

"It's going good. Is Stiles home?" she responded and he nodded before opening the door wider and gesturing for her to come in.

"I'll go grab him for you," he said and walked up the stairs, leaving Penny alone in the entryway with Bruce.

She took a moment to look over the home, or at least as much of it as she could see. There was the usual clutter that came with any home and as Penny leaned over to look down the hallway into the dining room, she saw that the table was covered in papers. She knew the sight well; whenever either of her parents was working on a project, the whole house became fair game to turn into a workspace. She saw a framed picture hanging on the wall next to her and moved towards it to get a better look. There was a younger looking Sheriff Stilinski smiling at the camera with Stiles, who seemed to be about eight or nine. Their arms were both wrapped around a woman with brown hair and one of the warmest smiles Penny had ever seen. She could see the resemblance and knew that this must have been Mrs. Stilinski. A sad sort of feeling washed over Penny as she recalled what her grandfather had told her about what had happened to Stiles' mother. She turned around sharply when she heard someone making their way down the stairs, not wanting to be caught.

"Hi, Stiles," Penny greeted the teenage boy as he climbed down the stairs with a slightly confused look and she held tightly onto Bruce's leash as he began to tug, knowing how much he loved Stiles for whatever unknown reason.

"Hey?" he said and it came out as more of a question as he tried to figure out what she was doing in his house. As usual whenever Bruce got riled up upon seeing him, Stiles knelt down and returned the dog's affection with a small laugh.

"So, I was just wondering if you were busy right now? I get if you are. It's not a big deal or anything," she began to ramble and Stiles stood up, shaking his head.

"I mean, it's summer. How busy could I possibly be?" Stiles replied with a shrug.

"Then, I was wondering, if it was at all possible, if you could do me the biggest favor and give me a ride to the grocery store? I need to pick up some milk for my grandpa and I don't have a license or my bike…" she trailed off and Stiles looked at her with wide eyes as he heard her request before nodding emphatically.

"Yeah! Sure, no problem," he answered and a relieved look fell over her face.

"Really?" she asked, her smile lighting up her face.

"Yeah, of course. What are neighbors for?" he responded as he grabbed his keys off the side table before opening the door for her and following her out of the house and into the driveway. He then moved around to the passenger side and unlocked the car door for her before holding it open. He sheepishly scratched the back of his head and gave her an apologetic look. "It doesn't have automatic locks. Sorry it's such a piece of crap."

"Stiles, I ride a bike," she laughed off his apology as Bruce hopped into the car and then into the back seat. "A piece of crap car it may be, but it's still a car."

She was in the car before she could see the smile that formed on his face at her reply and he shut the door after her before hurrying around the front of the car to the driver's side.

"So, I've been meaning to ask you something," he told her hesitantly once he had turned on the ignition and back out of the driveway and she looked over at him.

"Yeah?" she asked and he nodded, quickly glancing at her before looking back at the road.

"Why Bruce?" he questioned and as he heard his name, the dog in the back barked playfully and Penny was forced to push him away when he tried to climb into the front of the car and into her lap.

"What do you mean?" she replied as she glared at the dog in question.

"The name. Why Bruce? It's almost too normal for a dog," he explained and Penny bit her lip as she gave him a nervous look.

"Promise you won't laugh or think I'm weird?" she asked him and he let out a chuckle before nodding.

"I promise," he agreed as they stopped at a red light and she took a deep breath before looking out the window.

"Um, I named him after Batman," she said nervously and a grimace formed on her face when she was met with silence. Was she really already scaring off the one potential friend she had in this town? She chanced looking at him to see that he was staring at her wide a shocked expression. Not knowing what to do, she looked ahead and saw that the light had changed to green, yet they were still sitting there. "It's green."

He opened and closed his mouth a few times as he expression morphed into one of confusion. The silence was beginning to turn uncomfortable as they continued to sit there at the green light and it was only when another car came up behind them and honked that Stiles seemed to snap back to reality with a jump.

"You named your dog after Bruce Wayne?" he asked her in a tone Penny was unable to decipher.

"Uh, yeah," she said, her nose crinkling slightly in embarrassment at his disbelief. But when she glanced over at him, she was surprised to see a smile growing on his face.

"So you like Batman?" he asked in another attempt to clarify this new piece of information he had received from the girl sitting next to him. "Like, you're into that sort of stuff?"

"Yeah. I mean, it's just when you're twelve and moving around a lot, what else are you supposed to get into but comic books?" she told him and when she looked at him again, she saw that he was shooting her a look of incredulity. "Is that weird?"

"What? No! Not at all!" he exclaimed, eyes wide once more as he quickly protested her insinuation that she was even remotely strange. "It's great! I just didn't think you'd be into any of that."

"Why not?" she asked as they pulled into the parking lot of the grocery store and Stiles shrugged.

"I don't know. Nick's world-travelled granddaughter is into comics? I guess I just never really saw it coming," he answered honestly as he parked the car and looked over at her and his reply made her smile widely.

"Stiles, my grandfather was a professor of mythology and folklore. It shouldn't be surprising that an interest in fantasy runs in the blood," she retorted with a wink, making him laugh. "Can I ask you one more favor? Do you mind waiting in the car with Bruce? He's kind of weird and doesn't like to be left alone."

"Yeah, sure. Bruce and I can bond," he joked and the dog once more tried to climb into the front seat with a bark. Penny quickly pushed him back before hurriedly getting out of the car and shutting the door to prevent him from following her.

"I should only be a couple minutes," she told Stiles through the partially opened car window and when he nodded with a smile, she made her way through the parking lot and towards the store.

But before she could get too far, she glanced over her shoulder back at the car and smiled when she saw that Bruce had moved into her seat and Stiles was scratching him behind the ears. Grabbing her camera from where it hung at her waist, she carefully brought it up to look through the viewfinder and after making sure the image was in focus, she took a picture of the two. She then looked down at the camera's screen and laughed at the smile the slightly awkward boy was giving Bruce. It was a smile she was very familiar with as it was the same one she often gave the friendly dog. Glancing up one more time at the pair, she turned back around and entered the store.

It didn't take long for her to find what she was looking for. After all, most grocery stores had a similar layout, with the dairy section along the back wall. She was a little put off by the overwhelming amount of options when it came to the milk she needed to buy. Did her grandpa want 2% or whole milk? Skim or soy? Eventually, she just grabbed the first carton she could and shut the door to the refrigerator. And then, suddenly, she felt a shiver go down her spine, causing her to stand straight up. A frown slowly grew on her face as she felt an odd sensation fall over her. She couldn't explain what it was she was feeling. For lack of a better word, it felt instinctual—like she should know what this feeling meant. Taking a deep breath, she shook her head, making her hair dark whip back and forth as she attempted to shake off the feeling, and growing slightly disconcerted when she couldn't.

"Excuse me! Where did you get those?" a high-pitched voice shouted, startling Penny from her thoughts and making her jump as she turned around to see what the source of such a shrill noise could be. She was confused when she saw a shorter girl with strawberry blonde hair approaching her wide, almost frantic, eyes.

"Um, in the dairy section?" Penny nervously answered, glancing down at the milk in her hands before looking over her shoulder at the wall that was lined with milk cartons.

"No, I meant your boots," the girl corrected as she came to a stop a few inches from Penny, and she automatically took a few steps back to put more space between herself and the redhead, only to end up backing into the clear refrigerator door. "How did you get your hands on those? They've been sold out online for _months_ and you can't find them in any store! At this point, the only person who could get a pair would be Anna Wintour, and _only_ if she agreed to feature them on the cover of the September issue!"

Penny looked curiously down at her outfit, looking past the short navy ditsy floral print dress and black jacket to the pair of black Acne ankle boots she had put on before leaving the house. She then looked back up at the girl, a small smile growing on her face at the girl's exaggeration.

"I think that Anna Wintour could get anything she wanted with just one look," she argued nervously and she relaxed slightly when the girl's eyes lit up gleefully at the comeback. "But my mom's a photographer and she did a spread for _W_ a few months ago and the editor was so pleased they let her have the boots."

"You got these for _free_?" the girl asked disbelievingly, her jaw dropping and Penny nodded slowly, unsure of what the girl would do next. "Who's your mother?"

"Sylvia Cole?" Penny answered, only for it to come out as a question due to the uncertainty of how this encounter was going to continue.

"You're kidding!" the girl shouted, making Penny jump yet again in surprise. "Her work is _amazing_!"

"Yeah, it is," Penny smiled proudly at the girl's compliment to her mother. Then, if it was possible, the girl's eyes widened even further.

"Does this mean your father is Theodore Cole?" she asked eagerly and Penny's eyebrows shot up in surprise before she hesitantly nodded.

"You, you know my dad's work?" she slowly asked and the girl rolled her eyes.

"Of course I do," she replied in an obvious tone, almost as if she were offended that someone would imply she wasn't. "I make it a point to read every Pulitzer Prize winning article. He wrote his about the expanding ivory trade in China."

Penny's jaw dropped in shock as the girl in front of her recounted the story her dad had written four years ago that had won him one of the most sought after prizes for a journalist. It wasn't often that she came across anyone who knew her mother's work. The very rare occasions had involved adults who were involved in the fashion industry whenever her mother would take her to photo shoots that she had set up. But this was the first time she had met anyone who knew her father's work.

"I'm Penny Cole," she finally introduced herself once she had gotten over the surprise and she held out her hand. The redhead looked down at Penny's outstretched hand before looking back up at her face with a scrutinizing expression. But just as Penny began to feel awkward, her hand still held out and the other girl looking at her intensely, the shorter girl grabbed her hand and shook it with a dazzling smile.

"Lydia Martin," she responded and once she had let go of Penny's hand, she brought one up to her chin as she gave Penny a curious look. "Now, there's absolutely no way Sylvia and Theodore Cole were living in Beacon Hills all this time without me knowing. How long have you been here?"

"About two weeks. We were living in Brazil while my dad worked on a story but then my mom and I moved here to be closer to my grandfather," Penny told her and Lydia's bright hazel eyes lit up once more.

"Brazil?" she asked with a slightly impish grin that only seemed to grow when Penny nodded. "And how were the boys?"

"Pretty much non-existent. We were living in a pretty remote area and my dad's story is about the indigenous peoples so there weren't a lot of opportunities to go dating or anything," she shrugged and Lydia's eyes widened as a look of sympathy began to form on her face.

"Oh, you poor thing. Well, with the school year right around the corner and your new girl mystique and killer sense of style, we'll remedy that in no time," Lydia assured her and Penny tilted her head to the side with a slightly confused look.

"We?" she repeated and Lydia rolled her eyes before looping her arm through Penny's and beginning to drag her out of the dairy section and towards the bakery.

"Of course, we. I can't let you walk into the lion's den alone can I?" she asked and she continued before Penny could even attempt to answer her question. "I'm sure that with the whole sweet and naïve persona you're projecting you wouldn't have too many problems, but you could definitely use someone like me to tell you the proper etiquette. You know—where to sit at lunch, which teachers are more lenient when it comes to tardiness, the ins and outs of the lacrosse team. I'd think about wearing those boots a little more often if I was you. They appear to be lucky—you've made me your first friend in Beacon Hills."

Penny beamed brightly at the sentiment. As Lydia continued to talk about what Beacon Hills High would be like for a new student as well as lead her around the store, picking up a few things here and there, Penny realized this was a girl she was lucky to have met. Not just for her obvious knowledge of the inner workings of new school and—what Penny assumed was—her popularity among the student body, but for her outgoing nature. How many people would run into a girl at the grocery store that they had never met and strike up a conversation that would lead to a sudden and admittedly unexpected friendship? As brave as Penny liked to think she was, she didn't know if even she could summon the courage to do that. After all, how long had it taken her to ring Stiles' doorbell?

As Lydia turned the conversation towards her father's articles, the two girls walked into a check-out line and sped through at a surprisingly quick pace. Although maybe it was just that for the first time in years, Penny was having a conversation with someone her age about something she was incredibly passionate about. Maybe she had just gotten too used to being lonely?

"Alright, well now that I've got your number, you can expect to be hearing from me in a matter of hours about when we'll be meeting so that I can begin to give you your crash course," Lydia told her as they made their way out of the store and into the parking lot. They came to a stop in front of a Volkswagen Beetle, which Penny assumed was Lydia's car.

"I look forward to it," Penny answered honestly with a wide smile and Lydia gave her one last goodbye before unlocking the car door and tossing the groceries into the back seat. But just as she went to climb into the car, Penny stopped her. "Hey, Lydia?"

"Yeah?" she asked and Penny gave her a long look before responding.

"Thanks," she said and Lydia smiled sincerely as she shrugged.

"Please, if I want a chance at borrowing those boots then the only way is to befriend you," Lydia said before getting into the car and shutting the door behind her. Penny quickly moved to the side, making room for Lydia to pull out of the parking space and waving goodbye to the bubbly girl.

The wide smile still on her face, she watched the car drive out of the parking lot before shaking her head slightly as she tried to convince herself that this had all actually happened. With a soft laugh to herself, she turned towards the next row of cars and made her way towards the blue jeep that stood out brightly amongst the other white, black, and red cars. It was once she got closer that she realized Stiles was pressed against the window, almost comically so, as he watched her walk towards him with wide eyes. She laughed as he eagerly rolled down the window and stuck his head out.

"What were you doing with Lydia Martin?" he asked, tripping over his words as he rushed to get them out. She gave him a curious look at his excitement as she stopped once she reached him.

"Oh, you know Lydia?" she replied and he nodded furiously as he moved even further out of the window so that almost his entire torso was sticking out of the car and Penny couldn't help but be amused.

"Of course I know Lydia. _Everyone_ knows Lydia. How do _you_ know Lydia?" he rambled and he was talking so fast it took a moment for Penny to fully comprehend what he was saying.

"Well she actually came up to me and said she liked my boots and we just sort of got to talking. She's actually read my dad's work if you can believe it," Penny answered with a disbelieving laugh at the fact that Lydia had known her father's work.

"Trust me, I believe it. She's got a genius level IQ. While we're all settling into lives of mediocrity, she's going to be winning awards for ridiculously complex mathematical theorems," he told her and Penny's eyes shot up in surprise.

"Really?" she asked curiously and Stiles nodded. "She's just full of surprises, isn't she?"

"Yeah, she is," he replied and Penny didn't miss the slightly wistful tone in his voice and the longing look in his eyes.

"Are you guys friends?" she asked and Stiles snorted at the question, making her tilt her head confusedly at his reaction.

"You're kidding, right?" he replied, giving her a self-deprecating look and Penny couldn't help but frown slightly. "Lydia Martin is the smartest, prettiest, and most popular girl at school. She doesn't even know my name."

"Hey, then that makes her genius-level IQ worthless, doesn't it?" she attempted to reassure him and he just gave her a skeptical look. "Maybe she doesn't know your name _now_, but you've got the whole school year ahead of you and she'll find out what she's been missing out on. I mean, I think you're cool. You're into Batman and _Game of Thrones_."

"Being into comics and fantasy doesn't go very far with girls like Lydia," he argued and Penny gave him a long look before realization seemed to wash over her.

"You've got a thing for her, don't you?" she asked and Stiles slumped over the side of the car door in resignation, giving her his answer.

"It's that obvious, isn't it?" he grumbled despondently and Penny gave him a sympathetic look. Unrequited love was never a fun topic of conversation for the person experiencing it and she was feeling slightly guilty for having brought it up.

"You know, Peter Parker got MJ Watson _and _Gwen Stacy," she finally attempted to console him and he looked up at her in surprise. When he didn't say anything in response, she began to grow a little embarrassed and couldn't help herself from nervously continuing. "I'm just saying—a socially awkward nerd with an inferiority complex got the redhead _and _the science major. Lydia could be seen as the perfect mix of the two, right? Maybe she just needs to find her Peter Parker."

The same look of shock was still etched on his face until after another long moment he let out a disbelieving laugh as he began to smile slowly.

"I can't believe you just compared my to Spider-Man," he said and she returned his smile sheepishly. "I guess this would make her evil and incredibly rich boyfriend Harry?"

"Harry wasn't evil," she answered, her tone firm and Stiles shot her another disbelieving look, only this time she could tell that it was because he completely disagreed with her.

"He almost killed MJ _and_ his own son!" he argued heatedly and Penny rolled her eyes as she walked around the car to the passenger side, where she opened the door and got into the car, pushing Bruce distractedly into the back as she did so.

"Yeah, before saving them and then Spider-Man before dying in his arms," Penny pointed out as Stiles started the car and pulled out of the parking lot. "Harry was just damaged beyond repair, not evil."

The two continued to argue back and forth over whether or not Harry Osborn had truly been evil as they drove back to Stiles' house. For every point Stiles brought up, Penny quickly shot it down with a reasonable explanation that led back to Harry's neglected childhood. Neither was willing to lose any ground and before long they had pulled into the driveway of Stiles' home.

"He assembled the Dark Avengers!" he shouted, waving his arms furiously now that the ignition was off and he was no longer required to keep his hands on the wheel. But Penny was distracted from replying by the unknown car that was parked in front of her grandfather's house. She hadn't expected him to be getting any visitors today. "Are you listening to me?"

"What?" Penny asked distractedly as she looked away from the car to face Stiles and he shook his head as he opened the car door and Penny followed suit, Bruce hopping out after her.

"We're going to pick up this argument later, I hope you know that," he warned her and she smiled with a laugh.

"I wouldn't expect any less," she replied and giving him a goodbye, she began to walk across the lawn towards her grandfather's house, Bruce right behind her. But just as she reached the front porch, she turned to look back at Stiles as he made his way towards his own him. "Hey Stiles?"

"Yeah?" he called, turning towards her and she gave him a curious look.

"Are we friends now?" she asked him and even from here she could see the smile that formed on his face as he nodded.

"I think we are," he answered and she returned his smile before silently turning back around and walking up the steps to the front door. But just as she reached out to open the door, she froze.

Her eyes widened as she stood stiff as a board, her hand sill outstretched halfway to the doorknob but moving no closer to open the door. That same feeling—the one she had felt at the grocery store—was crashing over her now. Only this time there was a distinctly different tenor to the feeling, almost like there was a warning in her bones telling her to be careful. She could feel her heart begin to race in fear when she tried to shake her head to get rid of the feeling and found herself unable to make even that small movement. She was finally broke from the trance as she heard Bruce beside her begin to growl low in his throat and she looked down to look at him to see that he was sitting by her side, his gaze intensely focused on the front door. Taking a deep breath in a poor attempt to calm herself, she finally extended her arm fully and grabbed the doorknob. But before she could turn it, the door opened suddenly and Penny found herself face to face with a pretty brunette who looked to be at least six or seven years older than herself.

"Who are you?" Penny asked, her voice coming out harsher than she had originally intended. But she had been unable to help it. That feeling she had felt as she stood alone on the front porch seemed to increase exponentially as she faced the girl. And it certainly didn't help that Bruce continued to growl from beside her.

"I'm a friend of your grandfather's," the brunette answered calmly and Penny's eyes narrowed in an almost suspicious manner. "You must be Penelope."

"Penny," she corrected, her nose crinkling in distaste at the use of her full name before repeating her question. "Who are you?"

"Laura Hale," she replied and she then looked Penny over before cautiously extended her hand to hers in greeting. Penny glanced down at the outstretched hand before raising her own to shake it. "I'm sure I'll be seeing you around."

Penny was unable to ask what her cryptic response meant as Laura went to move out of the doorway, only to be stopped by Bruce, who snarled at the girl when she tried to pass him. Laura looked at her before looking down at the dog and Penny grabbed onto Bruce's collar and pulled him from the girl's path, surprised at the show of hostility from her usually friendly pet.

"Sorry, he's not usually like this," Penny apologized and Laura smirked at her as she walked past the two.

"It's okay. Dogs never seem to like me," she told her and the way she said it made Penny think she was telling some inside joke that Penny was clearly not meant to get. Penny watched as Laura walked down the steps and towards her car before getting in and eventually driving off down the street. Her eyes were fixed on the car until it turned the corner and she could no longer see it. She then looked down at Bruce who had stopped growling but still seemed to be on edge.

"You okay?" she asked him quietly and he looked up at her silently, his head tilted to the side. She returned the dog's gaze before sighing and walking into the house and when she saw that Bruce was still sitting on the porch, she gestured for him to come in, which he only did after a long pause. "Good boy."

She then shut the door behind the dog and began to make her way towards the kitchen with the milk she had bought. But as she rounded the hallway's corner, she stopped with a curious look as she heard voices coming from behind the closed door of her grandfather's office. She silently crept closer in an attempt to hear what was being said.

"You know it was the Argents," she heard her mother state in a matter-of-fact tone and Penny's brow furrowed in confusion.

"Not all of them," her grandfather corrected firmly and her mother sighed. "Just one."

"One or all of them, they've messed with the balance more than once. And Laura's close to figuring it out."

Penny was growing more and more confused by the second. Who was Laura Hale to her mother and grandfather? Who were the Argents and what did they do? And there was something in her mother's tone that Penny had trouble identifying. It almost sounded like she was sad, but why?

"She won't. You know that," Nick gently said and her mother let out yet another sigh. "It's coming. She only has another week or so."

"I know," Sylvia replied forcefully, as if she hated to be remained about whatever this deadline represented. "Look, Penny's going to be back soon. We'll talk about this later."

At this, Penny scrambled away from the door and into the kitchen, desperate not to be caught listening in on whatever the conversation meant that she was certainly not supposed to hear. She set the grocery bag containing the milk carton on the counter and shrugged off her jacket, hanging it over the back of a kitchen chair. In an attempt to make it look like she was busy with something else, she slipped her camera strap over her head and lifted her camera up to look at the screen and scroll through the pictures as she leaned forward against the counter. She let out a soft laugh at the first picture that came up—the one she had snapped of Stiles and Bruce.

"Penny? When did you get back?" her mother asked, clearly startled at seeing her daughter standing unexpectedly in the kitchen. Penny noted that although she was surprised, she gave away no hint of worry that her daughter had overheard anything she and Nick were talking about. Was she that sure or was she just that good at pretending?

"A little bit ago. I got the milk," she answered, gesturing to the bag on the counter and Sylvia nodded appreciatively.

"Thanks, sweetheart. I appreciate it. Can you put it away? I've got to go ask your grandfather whether or not he still wants his coffee. You know how fickle he can be," Sylvia told her, the last part coming out in a grumble, betraying her annoyance at Nick's often fussy behavior when it came to his food.

"Sure," she said and Sylvia left the kitchen. Penny took the milk out of the bag, before throwing the bag into the garbage can. She made her way towards the refrigerator and opened up the door, getting ready to put the milk on one of the shelves. However, she stopped as she saw an already full milk jug sitting on the shelf right at her eye-level. She looked at it for a long moment before glancing towards the hallway that led to her grandfather's study. What was so important about this meeting with Laura Hale that they would make up an errand to get her out of the house?

* * *

**Sorry this took a little longer to get out than I wanted to! I was having a little trouble with it and I hope it doesn't show. I'm also hoping it's not too cliché to have my character meeting Lydia so soon. I've just got so many ideas for interactions between the two that I wanted to introduce them as possible so I could start writing them! Also, I changed Penny's last name, but there's a reason for that. Just didn't want anyone getting confused when they saw it. Hopefully I didn't write anyone OOC and introduced enough mystery to keep you guys interested.**

**Thanks so much to xXbriannaXx, X23 Maximoff, pushingdaisiesxx, heroherondaletotherescue, prettyargents, and lovelikewoe13 for their amazing reviews! It makes me so happy that you guys are actually liking the story! Thanks also to everyone who's followed or favorited! The next update probably won't be up until the middle of next week. I'm moving back on campus this weekend and am a little busy getting ready and won't have that much time this weekend but hope I can get it up soon! Please let me know what you guys think of this one, I really do appreciate the feedback!**


End file.
